Current optical photolithographic techniques are unable to use light with a wavelength below 193 nm because fused silica (silicon dioxide) of conventional mask substrates is opaque to wavelengths below 193 nm. Substrate materials that are transparent to light with a wavelength below 193 nm have high thermal coefficients of expansion compared to silicon dioxide and thus expand and contract far too much to be used reliably in sub-193 nm lithography. While some schemes have been proposed to overcome this problem for those fabrication levels commonly referred to as front-end-of-line (FEOL) which are substrate level, there are no schemes for overcome this problem for those fabrication levels commonly known as back-end-of-line (BEOL) fabrication levels which are interconnection/wiring levels. Because the minimum feature size printable in an optical photolithography system is a function of the wavelength of the actinic radiation (shorter wavelengths allowing smaller feature sizes) it would be useful to the industry to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.